Walter Abt, born in Memmingen/Germany, is an
exceptionally versatile composer and artist, with a special talent for
improvisation, influenced by his friendship with gipsy jazz musicians.
At the age of 17 he was playing a whole number of different instruments
in various ensembles: electric and acoustic guitars, piano, trumpet,
flugelhorn, double-bass, accordion and trombone. He acquired technical
polish and precision in different styles as a soloist at the Graz
College of Music, at the Verona State Conservatoire and in master
classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum.

Recordings, Festivals and Competitions

As director of the Munich Guitar Orchestra he was awarded first prize
at both the Bavarian Orchestra Competition and at the German Orchestra
Competition held by the German Music Council, both in 1992; he also
received a special prize for outstanding interpretation of contemporary
music.

In 1989 Walter Abt established the international Summer Seminar for
Guitar, which has since taken place under his direction at the Bavarian
Academy of Music in Marktoberdorf. The aim of this biennial summer
school is to present innovative themes in a wide variety of different
areas – Classical, Jazz, Flamenco- with artists of international
standing. Abt´s educational concept was adapted also for other
instruments and copied by many other festivals and workshops. In the
last few years, Walter Abt has collaborated closely with his friend Leo
Brouwer.

Contemporary Lute

His extensive repertoire includes Renaissance and
Baroque works for lute and vihuela, Classical works and his own jazz
and flamenco compositions. Since his childhood, Walter Abt has been
infatuated by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Consequently, it is
hardly surprising that when he came to record his first CD, he chose
his own transcription from Partita d-minor for violin solo BWV 1004
including the famous Ciaconna (AVA Records).

His recordings have been enthusiastically received by both the public
and the press and have also received numerous awards. As a sought-after
soloist, composer and arranger, Abt works together with many well-known
musicians.His chamber music partners include Giora Feidman, Leo
Brouwer, Joe Pass, Philippe Catherine, Giudo Schieffen, Annegret
Siedel, Paul O´dette, Paulo Bellinati, Jürgen Seefelder,
Hakim Ludin, Rafael Riqueni and the Hugo Wolff Quartet. Walter Abt
maintains a wide-ranging interest in contemporary music.

Guitar & Orchestra

Examples have included his recording of music by the Cuban composer Leo
Brouwer, together with himself as conductor at Brouwer's Fiftth
Concerto de Helsinki for the 1st recording called “Spaces”.
The Italian composer Gianfranco Grisi dedicated to him the “3
preludes after poems of Federico García-Lorca” and the
“Concerto d´Arcadia”, conducted by Leo Brouwer. His
many other recordings include several of Rodrigo's "Concierto de
Aranjuez" to his own “CONCERTO DEL BENACO” with solo
guitar, percussion, 9 wind-instruments and string orchestra.

Own compositions for guitar and orchestra

The "CONCERTO DEL BENACO" is a tribute to the region of Lake Garda in
Italy, its landscape and its people, its wind and water. “Lacus
benacus” was its Venetian name, inspired by the wild beauty of
its water, its light and its rugged shores. After works of Ennio
Morricone and Michael Nyman ordered by the APT Trentino´s
“Suoni delle Dolomiti”, they commissioned Walter Abt in
1999 to compose water music for them. The “Concerto del
Benaco”, which has been recorded in two different versions (VMS
147; CAL51023), has become a symphonic poem with episodes complete in
themselves and scenes with totally different stylistic elements.

Awards

In 1997 he was selected together with Giora Feidman at
the ECHO-award and the Bavarian Movie award. In 2009/10 he was
commissioned by the Goethe-Institute for concerts and workshops in
Portugal, Cape Verde and Senegal. He likes to surprise his audience
with musical crests between classical music, jazz and worldmusic -as
well as with ancient instruments like lute or vihuela. He is always
welcome and well-received at numerous international festivals.

Walter Abt currently lives in his home town of Munich. In his leisure
time he is a keen sailor, mountain- and motorbiker, jogger and mountain
trek skier. He speaks 6 languages fluently - among them Portuguese,
Spanish, Italian, French, English and a little bit of German.

I play 6 different classical and flamenco guitars, all
of them constructed by Antonio Marin Montero and José Plazuelo
Marin, Granada. My current favourite is an Antonio Marin flamenco
guitar, completely cypress (prototype, unique!).

For several recordings I liked to use also an Antonio Marin 8-string
guitar (spruce/maple), Fender-Strato, Gibson Les Paul, Buchsteiner
acoustic steel strings in different tunings.

Two very special instruments are my renaissance lute with 7 choirs
built by Hermann Hauser, Munich, 1921; and a baroque lute, 13 choirs by
Hermann Hauser, 1920

I also appreciate my Spanish vihuela by the German constructor Dieter Hense, 1972.